Last Night
by BlackCavern
Summary: What did happen to Rutger's family that day in Bulgar when Bern attacked? Chapter Nine is up
1. Last Night in Bulgar

**Disclaimer: I do not own Fire Emblem

* * *

**

The sun was setting over the green plains of Sacae painting the skys in hues of orange and red. Above the cascade of color, stars were already gathering on the curtain of emerging indigo. A hawk was flying over the vast plains, it's yellow eyes widened when it spotted a break in the sea of green.

A human was sitting among the tall grasses, leaning back on his elbows to watch to sun set. His red clothing were a sharp contrast to the yellow eyes, after being satisfied with it's inspection the hawk flew off uninterested.

The human stayed unmoving as the curtain of blue drowned out the orange-yellow of the sun. It was still spring time and the human's copper-colored eyes were starting to close from the lulling warmth before the cold of night set in.

Seconds later the peace was broken by an arrow flying across the field dangerously close to the human's face taking off a few strands of light brown hair as it passed. "Hey Rutger! Come on, Father's gonna kill both of us if we're late for dinner again!" a loud voice trumpeted.

Rutger scowled and grudgingly got up. _That's your answer to everything isn't it? Just shoot an arrow at it. _Getting up he dusted the grass off his clothing and ran up the hill to join the voice's owner. "Fine, fine I'm here, you can stop yelling!" The man who yelled just gave a teasing smile and started heading back to camp with Rutger follow behind.

"You know something Rutger? You stick out like a sore thumb with that red jacket of yours, you never fit in anywhere do you? Even at home, you really don't look like a Sacaen."

Rutger waved the remark away, "Shut up Masou, everyone in Bulgar has some Bernian blood in them."

Masou's grin broadened, he had heard this answer before so he just pushed up his headband to further hold back his dark green hair. "Yeah I guess your right, don't worry 'bout it bro, none of us get to choose what we look like."

Instead of being calmed Rutger was starting to fume, he despised sympathy on such matters. "Are all older brothers this critical or did you take special charm lessons?" he snapped angrily.

"I'm just saying the truth, it's not like I'm saying it's a bad thing. It's just that...well let me put it this way: no matter how unprejudiced a person is their idea of somebody is always influenced-even a little-by sight and that's just how it is. And some people who need to act differently based on looks are a little...edgy around you. Can't you take up the bow or something?"

"No, you know better then I do that I can't shoot a target even if it's as big as a horse. Why do you think I took up sword fighting?!"

"Yeah that's true, if you changed any then you just wouldn't be Rutger anymore eh?" Masou emphasized his point but ruffling Rutger's hair and promptly got his hand slapped away.

A silence fell among the two Sacaen warriors as they fell into a leisurely pace. It must've been ten minutes or more before Rutger broke the silence. "Masou...do you...do you think that Bern will ever attack us?" Masou tilted his head as if he thought the question was childish, "Well not really. Why would they? After all like you said, nearly everyone here is half Bern so why would they.... Actually you know what? I've never really thought about it."

"Bern hates Sacaens but here in Bulgar we are all of mixed blood. Yet the majority of us look Sacaen so-" Rutger was cut off by Masou's laugh, "You mean all of us but you."

Rutger pretended to ignore the comment, "The Sacaen traits are dominate over most of the Bulgarians. I wonder if Bern feels that their blood is being tainted with Sacaen blood or do they see us as something less of what they see pure Sacaens?"

"That sounds like a question out of one of Father's old books, lay off Rutger or you'll just give yourself a headache. Come on, let's speed up." Masou gave Rutger a reassuring clap on the shoulder before increasing his already long strides.

Barely any light was left in the sky by the time Masou and Rutger reached their home in Bulgar. Despite being a city(due to it's Bern influence) the houses still had an oddly Sacaen look to them. The main feature was the town, it was small to Bern's standards but the houses were spread rather far apart and had little way of fences.

They stopped in front of a particular house that had a small wooden cat shape nailed to the door. Masou had made it when he was a little kid, Rutger always thought it looked ridiculous because the cat's head was horrifically deformed looking, it's ears were too large, and the tail was too long. Their mother however thought it looked lovely.

"Hey, pick up your blade will you? It'll rust if you just leave it outside." Masou reminded as he opened the door. Rutger picked up his sword that was still leaning against the door from practice yesterday, "Stop making things up, it won't rust in it's casing you know. He pulled the edges of his long coat over the scabbard because Mother had a "no weapons in the house!" rule, but it was a plain fact to him that Masou kept his bow and arrows in his room.

"We're not late!" Masou proclaimed as he spotted their mother still setting the table. As Mother said something that sounded like a "call in your father" Rutger hurried to his room and shoved his sword under his bed covers.

Their father was one of those people who wasn't extremely large physically but his presence took up a lot of space. He had a quiet voice that was as straight forward as the arrows he shot. To be simple, he was an older and less sarcastic version of Masou.

Dinner was a quiet time, there really wasn't much conversation except between their parents. Rutger and Masou never had much to talk about, or rather nothing they wanted their parents to know.

"Bern's army has been awfully restless lately." Father remarked his voice oddly lowered. Rutger's head snapped up and Masou's green eyes shone with slight interest. Among the other things, Father was also a man who was fluent in expressions. "Well if you kids want to know the truth the fact is that Bern has been filtering their army through Bulglar, they aren't killing anyone or damaging property but some people are nervous. Don't let it worry you two, small children don't need to mind these things."

This was Masou's turn to become annoyed, "Small children?! Come on Father you don't mean that! Even Rutger's eighteen by now, we stopped being small when we were about this tall." he put his hand about four and a half feet from the floor. Father was blinking in the way that parents do when their children grew up without them noticing, Rutger was just trying to supress one of his rare smiles.

The rest of dinner consisted of a humerus silence as Masou stared at Father in disbelief.

It wasn't until late that night when Father needed them to stop being children....

"Rutger...Rutger wake up." a voice rasped in the darkness. Rutger felt himself being shaken awake, at first he thought it was Masou (who was officially doesn't need sleep anymore) but the urgency in the voice noted that it was Father.

"Come on, get your clothes on and come outside." Father ordered in his usual flat, dry tones. "Take your sword too." he added on. Rutger pushed himself up on an elbow not yet obeying, "Why? What's the use of a sword this late at night?"

Father shook his head, in the silver light of the moon Rutger could see that his dark green hair was streaked with sweat. "It's Bern, they've invaded Bulgar, they're killing everyone." The final understanding made Rutger sit bolt upright, he gaped at his father but closed his mouth almost immediately. _Well what did I expect? Only Father could be so calm in a situation like this. _

Seeing that his son finally saw the urgency of the situation Father left the room, only then did Rutger notice the bow clenched in his fist and the deep cut on his shoulder. Tossing on his clothes Rutger grabbed his sword and raced outside.

The front door was unlocked and opened, almost immediately a foot soldier lunged at him. Rutger turned ninety degrees to the right and plunged his sword into the soldier's side. Only by the pale wash of light from the moon was Rutger able to distinguish friend from foe and even then it was hard.

It was utter chaos in Bulgar that night, soldiers flooded into the village like water over a broken dam. Soldiers and Bulgarians alike fell dead to the ground. In the midst of the confusion someone cut Rutger across the back. It must've been a shallow wound because it didn't hurt much the only thing he felt in response was a numbed, stinging feeling.

Javelins and arrows streaked the air instead of rain a few arrows even came within inches of getting a head shot on Rutger. He didn't notice until well into the battle that many of the dead bodies weren't just warriors, little children and elders were mixed in as well.

Regardless of the innocent people being murdered there was still a fair amount of warriors being slaughtered. Rutger had taken to keeping a leveled head, he didn't need the distraction of dead friends. But his eyes wouldn't listen to his mind, despite the dim light he could name every fallen he saw:

Nara was the first dead he saw, a petite girl who once nearly shot him with an arrow when they were five and took half an hour apologising.

Knoton, he was a middle aged man who finally managed to convince all of Bulgar to let Rutger stop trying to learn a bow when both of them knew it was futile.

Lansa, a fifteen year old boy who-as a small child-took a "random sword" and Rutger spent a whole afternoon chasing after him to get it back. Through a...complex process all was forgiven and forgotten

Rutger's head was in a turmoil and he felt like slapping himself, he didn't have time to take a trip down memory lane. As if some physic message was spoken all of the foot soldiers spread themselves out and Rutger soon saw the reason why. _No...you've got to be kidding! _Knights, armored units on war horses. They thundered down using the force of their steeds to drive their lances into the bow weilding warriors.

Rutger was trying to help a Bulgarian archer kill off an approaching foot soldier when he tripped over somebody. He fell on his knees and was about to get up and bolt when he froze stiff. All Sacaens looked something a like, it took a fellow Sacaen to notice the diffence of family features.

"Mosau-?" his voice cracked on the name. Masou was crumpled on the ground with various gash wounds, his blood was soaking into the ground. "Hey Rutger, Father and I...we were hoping that we didn't have to wake you up." he managed to choke out smiling his usual crooked smile. Rutger's yellow eyes were blazing, he was in too much shock to say anything or move for the matter. "Masou...are you..." he didn't have to finish. "Dying? Yeah, I guess so, looks like Bern really does see us as less then Sacaen." Masou grabbed the front of his brother's shirt and pulled him closer. "They're going to kill us all Rutger, you hear me? But you have to try to live, we're all going to die but we have to try."

With that last word Masou's firm grip loosened and his arm fell back among his body, Masou was gone, all that was left of him was a corpse. Rutger stiffened t hen pushed himself up against what felt like a lead weight. _"We're all going to die but we have to try." _

There was sense in those words though Rutger would've believed it more if it held Masou's usual light sarcasm. Trying to live, if that's what he had to do then he couldn't afford to go beserk, couldn't afford anger. He needed to keep up the coldness and concentration, needed to keep focused.

Standing up he shoved his brown hair out of his eyes as his shocked body slowly loosened and relaxed. "We all die sometime, I guess Bulgar just dies earlier then most." he whispered to himself. His sword went through a soldier's lance followed by a hilt punch to the head.

Rutger had to grit his teeth to keep down the tsunami of rage that was sweeping over him. _Can't lose control, have to keep focus! _A mercenary was rushing towards him sword raised, Rutger counted the steps. _One..two..now! _He chose to attack while the mercenary was in mid step, off balance. The sword strike was on target, the mercenary fell to the ground with a hollow thud.

It had been so long and Rutger was getting tired, his arms were weakening and his wrists were becoming numb. By this time the foot soldiers have retreated and the cavaliers dominated the field.

Suddenly his knees buckled and sent him to the ground, ignoring the severe fatigue that dragged at him Rutger forced himself up. If he looked back at this in retrospect, he shouldn't have gotten up.

Someone had came up behind him, all Rutger felt was a crushing blow to the head. He fell on the ground again, after the blinding pain came a dragging darkness. _Bern...you cursed- _He didn't get to finish his thought as the darkness covered him....

"Hey...uh kid...you okay? Rise and shine!" a voice called almost cheerfully from somewhere beyond the darkness. The voice sounded strange, it had a distinct accent to it, something like what the Bulgarian people sound like. Almost before his eyes opened Rutger was pushing himself up, he was on an army cot. Sunshine was pouring through the opening of a tent and a man dressed in white robes was standing over him.

"Ah, finally awake I see? You got knocked out pretty bad there last night, but no injuries except that scratch on your back, there's not so much as a bruise on your head." the man said cheerily.

Rutger swung his feet over the cot and stood up, truth enough there was no headache and he had forgotten the wound on his back ever existed. But even if he had a splitting pain in his head he wouldn't have cared. "Where am I?!" he yelled swerving on healer. "In Bern of course, the army didn't have a clue what you were doing in Bulgar but some buffoon of a soldier attacked you. Not many Bernian people would go among those mixed Sacaen savages but for a swordsman I guess it would be a haven for purifying the population."

The truth struck him like a ton of bricks, Rutger understood perfectly why he spared. They had mistaken him for a swordsman from Bern. Masou had been right, _everyone _in Bulgar looked like a Sacaen except for him.

"What happened to the people of Bulgar?" this time his voice was less confident, he was bracing himself for the answer.

"It was as great success, the army finally managed to take out everyone of those Bulgarian scums. Women, children, warriors, all of 'em. There won't be anymore tainted blood around these parts." That was all it took, Rutger stormed out of the tent.

"They're all dead...Masou was...almost right." he murmured. His hand hit something hard against his hip, he still had his sword.

Even though he wasn't on the battle field any more, Rutger couldn't shake off the coldness he had gathered in his core and the oppressive cage of stiff hatred. They were locked in him, he wouldn't go out of control, go berserk. Like last night, he couldn't afford it.

_Bern...how could you? Purify the population?! What right do you have to judge who is pure?!_

These and other thoughts raged inside of him like a trapped lion raring to get out. But his stoic demeanor caged them in as they slowly melted into a harsh hatred with it's echo of intense sorrow.

He responded like how any other warrior would respond. His father's words echoed in his mind. _You know Rutger, revenge is one of those words that is often said but never done. If you feel that your revenge is justified the least you can do to keep yourself sane is to make a plan for what to do afterward. But I would like it better if you try to forget if not forgive, even the worst of enemies._

"I won't have any trouble keeping sane. Besides...it's too late to forget."

Rutger's eyes that was once a warm copper had already turned into the night shine of a wolf's....

* * *

**Please Read and Review**


	2. Return to the Plains

Darkness pressed itself into a solid form, radiated from cold stone walls. The walls of dungeons of Bern reflected cold and shadows emphasizing the glint of metal jail cells that flickered with whatever light they could find.

But the jail cells were empty, one of them should've contained a prisoner.

_Why did I do that? Just because I hated Bern? To release a prisoner...._

"Rise and shine Rutger, it's time to get going!" a voice rang out snapping the Swordmaster out of sleep.

He didn't need to open his eyes to figure out that it was Dieck who had taken on the role of his unofficial alarm clock. Normally he would've asked where Lord Roy was dragging them off to now but he already knew this time. The war was over...Bern was defeated or rather rehabilitated with a new ruler.

Sighing Rutger sat up, he had slept against a tree that night feeling that it was too hot for a tent. A couple months ago he would've been use to the blazing sun do to the lack of trees in Bulgar, but that world was gone for him as was anything he had gained from living there. He stood up and dusted off his clothing and picked up his sword.

"The war's over...where are you going Dieck?" he asked, he tried to sound uninterested but he was curious. It was one of his common styles of asking a question, say something obvious then ask the question. There had been several occasions where Masou had snapped at him, "Just shut up and get to the point already!" it usually ended up in a fist fight but blew over as soon as they were in sight of the village.

A wave of fresh sadness broke over Rutger at the thought of his older brother. He could shake off the death of his mother, his father, his village, but not Masou....

"Well let's see, I promised Master Klein that I would show my face to Lord Pent whenever I got the chance. So a short visit to Etruria for me and then back to mercenary work." Dieck recited, it sounded like he had spent the night going over this speech. "You got any plans?"

Rutger shook his head, "Not exactly, but I have a hunch." Dieck raised an eyebrow in surprise before a yell of "Come on Dieck, we're leaving!" from the Etrurian Sniper pulled his attention away. Then with a broad smile he said, "Alrighty then, see you around Rutger!" with that Dieck left.

Left to his own thoughts Rutger's mind wandered to the conversation he had with the Kutolah's Silver Wolf Dayan. It was difficult to remember what he said, a common thing when you have conversations in the middle of a battle

"_Rutger, what will you do after this war is over? Do you have a place to go?"_

"_...No."_

"_I thought so, then would you join the Kutolah clan?"_

"_...."_

"_Our clan has lost, but we have not been destroyed. Once the war ends, we gather on the plains once again. It would be helpful if you were there with us."_

"_I don't take offers"_

"_It is not an offer. I am asking you because I have faith in your skill as a warrior."_

"_...."_

"_Hm...difficult person I see. Then I shall say no more, but always remember that if you ever change your mind, we will welcome you with open arms. Remember that where ever you go."_

"_...Fine."_

"Tch, what's there to lose? I've already lost everything that I cared about."

Tying his sword and scabbard to his belt he walked back to the camp where the mercenaries and volunteers of the Lycian Alliance were preparing to go home. It wasn't hard to spot the Silver Wolf, like Rutger's father Chief Dayan was a man who took up a lot of space only unlike his father, Dayan was also pretty large physically.

He hesitated only a moment before speaking up, "Chief Dayan." The Silver Wolf paused from saddling his horse's saddle and greeted Rutger with a kind of smile that made the usually cold swordsman feel strangely ashamed.

"Ah Rutger, it's been a while since we've talked. What brings you here?" Dayan never seemed to notice the discomfort Rutger showed among pure Sacaens. "...What you said about the Kutolah Clan...." that was all he said. Rutger never intended to finish that sentence, in all truth he had never had to ask someone something such as joining a clan. Ten or eleven years ago he would've been one of those children who didn't like saying 'thank you' so he automatically rejected any favors.

To his luck Dayan understood perfectly what he meant. "I was right wasn't I? No Sacaen can leave the plains for long. You have made a good choice my young friend, you should travel back to Sacae with us." Rutger agreed silently, he knew what _us_ meant, Sue and Shin, two Sacaen nomads he had gotten acquainted with during the course of the war.

Most of the others were gone by the time Sue and Shin finally arrived, probably bidding farewell to their war time friends. Rutger on the other hand saw no point in making friends in wars, actually he saw no point in making friends at all. Having a sword is an invitation to kill and you never know who will accept it. A silent message passed between him to the two nomads, Sacaens rarely needed to explain to each other.

They were in Bern, the road to Sacaen was to the north through a mountain pass and through...Bulgar. Unlike the common stereotype, Rutger wanted to see what happened to Bulgar, what Bern did with the city after they slaughtered everyone there. It would add to his satisfaction of destroying the country that ruined his early life.

It wouldn't be an easy journey, no doubt there was remnants of brigands of war.

After twenty minutes of silence Chief Dayan finally broke up stillness, "If we keep traveling until night fall we will reach the river that divides Bern and Sacae, perhaps we can make it to Bulgar if we hurry." he cast a side glance at Rutger who didn't even see his gaze.

Hurrying was not an option. The horses of Sacae were accustomed to tall grasses and open fields, laid before them instead were rocky roads. They were difficult to go on by foot and near impossible by horse. Rutger finally understood why wyverns were so valued by the citizens of Bern.

True to his word Dayan lead them to the mountains that were just outside of the Sacae by night fall. In the light of the summer moon the mountains shone in a pale gray. Rutger's yellow eyes scanned instinctively for bandits, a pointless jesture considering that his eyes weren't yet adjusted to the dark.

He didn't need to look, soon enough the hollow ringing of boots on broken rock rang into the night. He shot a glare at his companions, Shin's green eyes caught his gaze, they were shining with nervous awareness. Even the sharpest arrow is useless in the dark.

"What should we do?" Shin whispered in the native Sacaen. It has been so long since Rutger had spoken that language that it took him a minute to recognize it, the language of Bern was the offical language of Elibe.

"Keep walking, we can't afford to stop until we can see." he replied stiffly in lightly accented Sacaen, he shot a quick glance at Chief Dayan who was nodding. In the beginning even a blind man strains to see until he accepts his fate. The seeing rely strongly on their eyes and fear arise naturally when they are blocked.

Sometime near midnight it became impossible to feel safe from the soft stampings of the following footsteps. "Perhaps we should split up Grandfather?" Sue finally spoke up after an extended uneasy silence. Chief Dayan considered the idea, "If we split up it will be harder to fend off an attack if there are many of the bandits. But in smaller groups we can deter the enemy and keep better track of each other. Yes, I suppose it would be a wise choice. Rutger, Shin, you two will take the northern road, Sue and I shall take a detour through the forest. We will regroup in Bulgar."

Rutger only caught every other word, even native languages are forgotten over time but he understood enough. He and Shin are to take the more direct route while Dayan and Sue cut through the forest. The straight northern road would mean they would arrive in Bulgar earlier but risk exposure to attack. _No problem. _It was a good idea considering the fact that Rutger was traveling on foot, just like bows he had never had an affinity for horses but has learned to keep up well.

The roads were becoming less rocky and grass started to take the place of hard packed sand. The builders must've saw no point in constructing a road much further into Sacae. The stark silence along with the unrelenting curtain of darkness even started to make Rutger feel uncomfortable.

"What was Bulgar to you?" the question came from Shin but it was so sudden that a less controlled man would've been startled. Shin had switched back to the Bernian language so Rutger could fully understand his words.

"They were my family. The people of Bulgar accepted me despite looking different, they were all murdered so brutally." he answered half to himself, flash blacks of the horrific night were racing through his head. "Your family? You were born in Bulgar? I thought you were born in Bern with Sacaen blood." Faint surprise entered Shin's quiet voice.

Rutger shook his head, "It doesn't matter where you are born, if you have Sacaen blood you usually look Sacaen. But I was spared because only in me did the Bern side come out stronger. The soldiers of Bern have a hard time killing a person with the same colored skin, at least that's what Dieck said."

"Dieck? The mercenary leader?" Shin paused as if to gather his memory, "You say that Bulgar was your family, what happened to your parents? Did Bern kill them or were they dead before?"

"When Bern attacked they killed my mother, father, and my older brother." Rutger smiled a meaningless smile as he remembered Masou's regret, "It's amazing, everyone was being slaughtered and my brother was worrying about not wanting to wake me up."

Shin didn't answer for a while, "I see, maybe I was being prejudice towards you before. I was convinced that you were lingering in the past when I saw your eyes filled with hate. But now I understand, you have experienced what the Kutolah have, maybe worse."

Rutger just frowned and kept his eyes straight ahead, he didn't need any sympathy or want it.

* * *

Dayan was true to his word, the Kutolah clan welcomed Rutger with open arms.

It took Rutger all of a few days to reintegrate into Sacaen life

Rutger still never built a strong relationship with horses, maybe it was because he was mixed blood

_It's been three months since Rutger joined the Kutolah Tribe_

* * *

"Give it up Shin, I already told you. I can't shoot a bow and I never will be able to!"

Shin had managed to do the impossible, he taught Rutger how to shoot a bow...but nothing said he could shoot it straight

"You give up too easily, just shoot again." Shin replied. Rutger could never have guessed how dedicated Shin was to pursue something so futile.

With a sharp whistling sound an arrow whizzed through the air and glanced off the edge of a boulder. It had always baffled Rutger and other foreigners why Sacaens used boulders as practice targets. Not to mention that there was no bulls eye target, just a small circle with a two centimeter diameter in the middle. In other words if you didn't hit the circle it was a bad shot no matter how close you get.

Shin who was standing behind the boulder (he apparently had no fear of being shot) examined the nick the arrow made on the boulder. "You hit the boulder this time. Shoot again."

Rutger scowled but raised the bow again. He pulled back the string and was about to start aiming when something caught his eye. Something so far from it's place that it rendered the Swordmaster speechless

"Etruian riders." he whispered

Shin stared as if he thought that the fellow Sacaen had gone mad. But when he turned around he too saw the gold trimmed white armor of Etruian paladins. The gray horses thundered down crushing plains grass left and right. They jammed to a stop rearing up for dramatic effect as the paladins reached the two Sacaens.

"We have a message from Lord Sirin of Etruia. We request the Silver Wolf of Kutolah!"

Rutger and Shin exchanged a glance

"What do you want to do?" Rutger asked in native Sacaen his bronze eyes still glaring at the Etruians

"I don't know, I have never heard the name Sirin before. Perhaps we should take them to Chief Dayan." Shin replied reluctantly after a long pause.

As much as he hated to admit it Rutger had to agree, What could the two of them do against four paladins? Picking up his sword that had been rather carelessly tossed against the boulder target, Rutger started walking back to camp. His cold glare was still burning into the Etruians the whole way there.


	3. Conflict with Etruria

_Etruscans...what business do those self righteous fools have on the plains?_

Rutger's glare burned into the Etruscan paladins all the way back to the Kutolah camp.

"You go get Chief Dayan, I'll stay here." he told Shin in Bernian loud enough for the Etruscans to hear. Shin nodded and walked off into the forest of nomad tents.

One of the Etruscan paladins looked curiously at Rutger under his visor. Actually it was a 'she', which he found out after she spoke. "Aren't you from Bern? Why would you be around the godless nomads?" she asked. Her voice was so full of sympathetic curiosity that Rutger felt sick.

_In Bern it's all about pure blood, in Etruria it's all about everyone having the same religion isn't it? Only Mother Earth knows why Etruria isn't a theocracy, may their gods help Prince Mildan._

Luckily for him the taller paladin to her right snapped, "Hush Mira, don't annoy the boy. If he wants to be here just let him. People of Bern have been picking up strange habits ever since Princess Guinevere took the throne. I don't know what those Lycians are talking about, I didn't see anything wrong with King Zephiel's rule."

Rutger's hand tightened on his sword, he gritted his teeth trying to quell the sudden rise of rage. "Why don't you tell _me_ why _you_ egotistic knights are on the plains?!"

The demand came out of his mouth before Rutger even realized what had happened. Just as well, Sacaens don't lie and he had to say it eventually or else something in him was bound to explode from pent up anger.

"Rutger, please keep your temper." Chief Dayan called as he and Shin walked up to the Etruscans, he had came in to ear-shot just as the female knight spoke up. He gave Rutger a knowing glance before saying to the paladins, "I am chief of the Kutolah, what business do you have here?"

As head paladin began his long introduction speech Rutger contented himself with thinking about knights. They called a male knight Sir Knight, but what did they call a female knight? Just a few days ago Sue had told him a story of the previous war against Bern that her mother told her. Sue had mentioned a female knight named Isadora but everyone just called her Isadora.

"The Saint Elimine Church has requested that the various clans of Sacae allow missionaries into the plains and to instigate all of Elibe under Saint Elimine's holy light." the knight recited from a scroll after the long introduction.

_So that's what this is all about, some holy light, wasn't it Etruscans who were killing off the Lycian Alliance?_

Chief Dayan held up a hand, "I'm sorry but I cannot accept your preaching. Sacae already has a deity to worship."

The paladin didn't look too pleased, Rutger didn't bother listening to the rest of his speech. The clerics he knew during the war didn't seem to press upon anyone their beliefs. Truly there are fewer and fewer good people in the world.

He was still mentally cursing Etruscans when he felt a tap on his leg. He instinctively looked down to see if it was one of the dogs used to help in hunting. Instead he found himself looking down at a little girl who was tugging on his pant leg.

"_Frater? _What are they talking about?" she asked innocently. Rutger was at a lost for words for a moment before taking her by the hand. "We better leave here, it's not something important." he told her leading her away from the paladins. The note in his voice was so stiff that he felt disgusted at himself, the girl didn't seem to notice as she skipped happily along.

The little girl was so short, Rutger had to stoop a little to keep a grip on her hand. The little girl tugged him in the direction of what he assumed was her home. Sure enough she stopped in front of a tent and the women who was sitting outside of it quickly put down her work and ran up to the girl scolding her, probably for wandering off. Rutger promptly turned and left but the persistent little girl called out, "My name is Ituha, please come play with me again _Frater._" Rutger just lowered his head and sped up his pace, if only this little girl knew anything about him.

He was so immersed in a cloud of thought that he just barely managed to step back as the Etruscan knights thunder by on their horses kicking up clouds of dust on the otherwise serene plains. Chief Dayan was still standing in the middle of camp looking deep in thought. Shin was standing next to him, Rutger knew that the discussion had gone badly.

"Well, looks like Etruria has some political instability." he murmured to himself as Rutger walked up.

"Chief?" Rutger asked. Dayan heaved a sigh, "Those paladins are as persistent as little children." Rutger flinched at the quote.

"I do not believe that Prince Mildan and Bishop Yodel are the types to try to force their religion on others. In fact Yodel told me that personally during the war, I have no reason to believe that he was not sincere. Perhaps someone should go over to Etruria to see what is happening." Dayan pondered.

"I will." Shin volunteered almost immediately, "No," Rutger interrupted, "I will go, I've traveled through Etruria many times. Besides, it'll be less suspicious if I went." Shin hesitated then agreed.

_I can't believe what I just said, well, my self esteem just took a nose dive. Look at me! I'm taking advantage of looking like a Bernian!_

"Yes, it will be less auspicious and be careful Rutger. Keep in mind that this is not worth your life." Dayan said.

Still seething with self loathing Rutger started walking to the edge of camp, Shin went to catch up with him. "You are leaving now?" he asked. Rutger nodded, "It's a clear shot to Etruria to the west. The sooner I finish the mission the sooner I can be away from the self righteous Etruscans." With that he walked off through the vast plains. "Father Sky watch over you." Shin called in the formal Sacaen farewell, Rutger just held up his hand to show that he heard.

The road to Etruria was smooth, guided by two chains of mountains. There were no obstacles except for a small river which was no trouble seeing that there was as giant marble bridge over it which Rutger arrived at in the afternoon the next day. Even with his hatred and disgust of the Etruscans Rutger had to stop in the middle of the bridge and marvel at the skill that must've been needed to carve out such elaborate historical scenes on the marble.

Etruria was a bustling city with cobblestone streets, very similar to Bern. The main difference were the many banners on the lamp posts that were painted with pictures of fields, quite a few of them depicted the plains of Sacae, despite the uncanny similarities Rutger felt like tearing up the cloth with his sword.

Etruria was the city of artisans and it showed in their architecture. And there was no finer example of that then the Elimine Church. It was impossible to miss the giant white and gold building in the middle of the Etruscan capitol. And Rutger headed straight for it.

He was barely able to hold back the temptation to kill the guards at the front gate and barge right in but it'll have to wait for after darkness sets in.

As soon as the sun dipped under the horizon brilliant lights lit up the Elimine Church, it should've been breath taking but Rutger was too focused on something else. With a flash of steel two bodies fell on the front gate of the church. The gate itself caused more difficulty then it's guards. How priests opened up a giant iron and wood door is beyond him, the squeaking sound it made when opened just made it worse. After ten minutes of careful shoving, the door opened just enough for Rutger to slip through.

It was easy to find Yodel's office, after all he was the head of the church. It was even easier to evade the swarms of clerics and priests. Rutger shoved the large decorative doors of the Bishop's office open and admitted himself.

Yodel was scribbling away on some paper with a quill but looked up as Rutger opened the door with a loud bang. "Greetings, young man. You seem vaguely familiar." was all Yodel cut say before Rutger cut him off. "I thought you told the Silver Wolf that you wouldn't force your religion on others." he said coldly.

"Chief Dayan? I'm afraid I do not know what you are talking about."

Rutger sighed and prepared himself for a long explanation, maybe it was hereditary from Founder Hannon or something but Sacaens didn't like to talk much.

"A day ago, four Etruscan riders came into the Kutolah camp. They demanded that the Chief Dayan allow Etruria's missionaries into Sacae and to integrate all of Elibe under one religion. Chief Dayan didn't believe that Prince Mildan or you would do something like that but wanted to confirm what was going on in Etruria. So here I am and I would appreciate it if you told me everything." Rutger said the last part through gritted teeth.

Bishop Yodel looked genuinely surprised, he brushed his hand over his face before speaking. "Sirin is a religious leader with influence through out Elibe. Recently he's been spouting this idea of uniting Elibe under the Elimine church. Prince Mildan would hear nothing of it, I myself have been trying to throttle his ambitions but I had no idea it got so serious so quickly."

With that he got up and walked over to the large painted window motioning Rutger to follow him. He pointed at a large stable in the back of the church. "You must return to Sacae immediately, take a horse from the stable and ride off as if you are stealing it. Lord Sirin must not know you've been inside the church."

Rutger was stunned for a moment then bolted out of the office. He fled down the corridors and only once had to narrowly dodge a pair of clerics. A long flight of stairs brought him to the back door of the church.

To his surprise the padlock to the stable was unlocked and the door was open. Watching tensely for anyone who might be in he walked towards the horse stalls. He picked the first horse he came to, despite not being a natural born horseman, he could ride decently enough. Rutger still couldn't help looking at the copper name tag on the horses' stall door. It read Ferrand.

He was about to lead the horse out of the stable when a loud yell came up behind him. It was a stable groom, Rutger's hand instinctively went to the hilt of his sword. Then just in time and luckily for the stable hand, he decided it wasn't worth it and swung out with his arm. His elbow caught the stable hand on the neck sending the man flat on the ground. Rutger then quickly swung on to the saddle and rode off into the night.

Taking Ferrand in a swift gallop Rutger thundered over the marble bridge and back towards the direction of Sacae. If he kept up this pace he would be able to be back in Sacae by morning. He had never yet called the Kutolah 'home', his 'home' had been gone for some time.

Rutger was still having trouble seeing in the dark, he just let the two mountain chains guide him. He heard the yell of "HALT!" before seeing the two soldiers that called it. Soldiers in Etruscan armor stood blocking the mountain pass, at first Rutger considered just running them over and continuing on his way but then some morale that he really didn't have caused him to pull Ferrand into a stumbling stop.

The captain on duty squinted through his helmet, "Who are you and state your business."

"I am a swordsman of-"

Rutger cut off, unwilling to say the rest. _Sacaens don't...lie...._

"Bern? Well if you're going home you're headed in the wrong direction." the captain advised.

"I'm not heading home." That in itself was not a lie

"Well dunno what you want to do in Sacae but go on ahead kid." the captain consented motioning for his comrades to step aside.

Without hesitating Rutger spurred Ferrand back into a fast gallop, he didn't want to look back but still cast one glance behind him to make sure the soldiers weren't following him.

"You know Ferrand, you're surprisingly good on the plain grass. Who knew Etruscan horses were so adaptable?" he said to the horse when they were a ways away from the soldiers. A normal person might have felt a bit awkward talking to his horse or might have such a close bond that there was no need to, but for Rutger who had never had an animal ally before, he didn't know any other way to talk to it except like how he would talk to a human.

Early next morning Rutger and Ferrand arrived at the Kutolah camp, there was only a few women and warriors who happened to be early risers. Even before Ferrand stopped his trot Rutger had already jumped off his back. Rutger silently vowed to himself that after this, he'd do everything in his power to avoid riding horses unless absolutely necessary, it was exhausting.

A warrior walked up to him and glanced at the horse, "You of all people riding a horse? And an Etruscan horse no less? I wouldn't be surprised if the sun went out." he remarked. Rutger just rolled his eyes sarcastically. _Now what was this guy's name again...? _The warrior must've noted his silence, "You must've forgotten me, it isn't surprising, we've only met once. I am Ahmik, I went on a hunt with you once." he reminded cheerily.

The bad memory immediately cleared up Rutger's mind, it wasn't that Ahmik was a jerk, it was just the fact that Rutger hated hunting. In retrospect he hated a lot of things: all Bernians, most Etruscans, a certain egotistic blonde troubadour, nobles, and the list goes on. But hunting especially, firstly he found no enjoyment in it. While the other hunters cheered in delight when they got a kill, Rutger just couldn't summon the enthusiasm, not that he had any for every day life anyway.

As soon as Ahmik said a farewell and walked off Rutger turned his mind back to the present problem. He was deciding whether to go find Chief Dayan (who was probably still asleep) or just wait. He thanked his lucky stars when he spotted Sue running up to him.

"Rutger! You came back earlier then expected." she greeted cheerfully, well, cheerfully by Sacaen means. "Yes, when I explained to the bishop what had happened, he sent me packing." Rutger muttered.

"Sue, can you wake up the chief for me?"

Sue nodded, "Of course, Grandfather is not an early bird." she quickly added before hurrying off to Dayan's tent. Come to think of it, Rutger didn't know where Dayan's tent was, he didn't even know where Sue and Shin lived. He had never found a need for remembering anything social wise, after all, nomads spent most of their time outdoors.

With a deep sigh Rutger stared off into the distance, his mission had only been a small one and it seemed like Bishop Yodel would figure everything out. But still, it felt like he had just stepped into a treacherous situation. He had felt this feeling before, when he opened up the prison door of that certain egotistic blonde troubadour, and when he stepped out of the castle that held that prison door and joined in the fray. All months ago but he could still describe the feeling with precise detail.

"Welcome back Rutger, I trust everything went well?"

Chief Dayan's voice jerked Rutger out of his own thoughts. He turned around, "Yes, but if this turns out to be anything major, it wouldn't just be Etruria's problem."

Chief Dayan's expression slowly turned into a stony mask of contemplation as Rutger repeated everything that Yodel had told him.

"But knowing Etruscan nobles, it might not come to anything. Or would cause a massive religious conflict in all of Elibe." Rutger finished off.

* * *

After five weeks of seeming peace, the Kutolah became convinced that like so many petty orders given by nobles, it would never amount to anything...they were wrong...so very wrong

* * *

"Come on Rutger, I know you don't like hunting but there's no need to scowl, it can't be that bad unless you're a vegetarian which your not. I've seen you eat meat before." Hakan teased.

Rutger just kept right on frowning, "Why am I here again? I can't shoot a bow." he monotoned.

"You're here because the plains are swarming with bandits, a swordsman is always useful to keep around. Remember that swordsman named Guy? He couldn't shoot a bow either." Nita reminded casting a sharp glance at her brother Hakan.

_Yes and Guy was also constantly lost and confused, not to mention enthusiastic, three things that I'm not._

Rutger then crushed his thoughts, he should be grateful that the Kutolah so readily accepted him as one of their own. Seeing that there wasn't a bandit in sight he cast his thoughts back Ferrand, he had wanted to take the horse back to Etruria but obviously it was too long of a trip to walk there and back.

Suddenly Rutger's head snapped up, he thought he had heard something, he looked around but only saw a sea of grass. Nita looked over at him questioningly, "Did you hear-" she started but was cut off by the sound of horse hooves. Rutger unsheathed his sword, Etruscan horses.

However on closer examination Rutger received such a shock that he nearly dropped his sword.

_Please tell me I'm seeing things..._

The annoying, troubadour...there's no way....

Yep, it was the same one. Here comes Clarine on her horse riding through the plains, the girl of his nightmares was in Sacae. (Okay, that was a bit of an exaggeration, he didn't hate her that much.)

Beside her rode two people, a blonde woman who looked a great deal like Clarine and a silver haired man. Behind them was a small squad of guards and a yellow haired man who looked vaguely familiar.

Where they here to fight? A group that big would certainly be a match for a Sacaen hunting group although he didn't remember telling Clarine of all people anything about Sacae.

Rutger adjusted his grip on the hilt of his sword, he mentally drew out a picture of his actions. _Wait until the horse is right beside_ _you, then strike at the rider. Kill the horse and you still have to deal with the rider, kill the rider and they're both finished. _A command his father had patiently guided him through when he was little.

The yellow haired knight in the back of the group must've anticipated his stance. "Hold! We're not here to fight!" he yelled.

Nita and Hakan glanced at each other, they did not know Bernian very well and could not keep up with the knight's rapid speech.

"Who are you? And what business do you have in Sacae?" Rutger asked through clenched teeth.

"Is that how you greet old friends? We came here to help!" Clarine blurted out before the silver haired man motioned for her to keep quiet.

"I am Lord Pent, the former Mage General of Etruria. Me, my wife, Knight General Percival,-and I believe you already know Clarine-we have come here to speak to the Silver Wolf." he announced.

Rutger translated Pent's speech to his comrades, "What do you think Rutger? Should we take them back to camp?" Hakan asked in native Sacaen

Rutger didn't like the idea, he didn't trust these people, he never trusted Percival and knew better then to leave Clarine ten feet from a ditch lest she fell in. "I don't want to, but we'll leave this up to the chief to decide." he finally said.

Suddenly a heavy clap on the back nearly dropped Rutger to the ground. "Long time no see!" a familiar voice rang out. Nita quickly raised her bow but Rutger held up a hand to tell her to stand down.

"Dieck." was all Rutger said for a greeting.

"As sour as ever I see, didn't think I'd see you again Rutger. I would've thought you'd disappear after the war." Dieck said in his usual thundering voice.

Rutger and Nita fell back to the end of the group while Hakan led them back to camp.

"Are you friends with these Etruscans?" Nita hastily whispered in Sacaen

"Friends? Hardly? I can think of Dieck as a comrade but nothing for the Etruscans. Do not speak behind their back Nita." Rutger warned.

Shin and Ahmik met them back at camp.

"Etruscans, I do not know what they want. But I have a hunch, I hope I am wrong though." was all Rutger said to the two.

* * *

Note:I am not doing a paring with Rutger and Clarine, I just never got into it. Besides, how old is Clarine anyway?

Kudos to anyone who knows what historical Scottish warrior the stealing horse scene was based off of

Frater-Latin term for 'Brother'


	4. Crisis and New Allies

Rutger stood to one side looking off into the distance while the Etruscans spoke to Chief Dayan inside the chief's tent.

"Dieck, what could be so important that Etruscan generals feel the need to help Sacaens?"

Dieck looked surprised at his tone, "Don't be so prejudice, General Percival and Lord Pent are not ethnocentric, you just got too much influence from Clarine. General Percival especially is taking a great risk in being here."

Rutger couldn't dispute that, never the less his tone was still harsh. "What is it they want?" he demanded.

Dieck looked away in an uncomfortable fashion, "Well you see...Bishop Yodel told Lord Pent about what's been going on between Etruria and Sacae with the whole religious assimilation idea."

"Assimilation?! No Sacaen would bow down to the Elimine Church, we have our own deities." Rutger cut in sharply.

Dieck held up his hands in surrender, "Sorry, sorry. Anyways it looks like this Sirin guy isn't kidding, Lord Pent went straight to General Percival. Well...as you know Sirin has a lot of influence here in Elibe, not to mention he already has peerage so he's got a lot of soldier under his command. And you see...he's serious so...there is this plan Percival found with help from the prince of Etruria...."

Rutger was on the verge of quoting one of Masou's favorite quotes: "Stop wasting language and get to the point already!"

But before he could say anything Dieck abruptly finished the explanation.

"He's attacking, Sirin is forming up an army, he's going to attack Sacae, mainly the Kutolah."

Rutger felt his body freeze for a moment and took a few seconds for his body to follow his brain's command. He grabbed Dieck's shoulder belt violently and jerked the mercenary foward effortlessly despite the heavy sword connected to the belt.

"How is that possible?! I thought Etruria was a monarchy!" he yelled. Rutger was so outraged that he didn't even notice the startled glances of the people around them.

Dieck pulled himself upright, "It doesn't work like that, before the prince is crowned as King of Etruria it's practically Feudalism out there! I told you already, Sirin has wide spread influence and peerage. Many people support his actions due to mental blindness, they are not the types that can understand the way of the Sacaen."

Rutger roughly let go of Dieck and sighed, "I'm sorry Dieck, I didn't mean to overreact. You are right, prejudice runs deep."

Dieck's trademark smile appeared on his face but this time it was grave, "You said yourself Rutger, don't try things you're not use to. You'd better hope that Clarine didn't hear your little outburst or she'll think that you're a hypocrite."

Rutger couldn't summon anything to respond to Dieck's joke, he was glaring out into the plains but his eyes didn't see anything.

"What are the other tribes doing?" he finally asked

Dieck shook his head, "No one knows. Lord Pent, his wife Lady Louise, and General Percival were hoping to warn the Kutolah in time so that you guys could escape. Clarine also has enough sense to try to help her parent's cause, unfortunately Klein was unable to come, if the entire Reglay family left at once, that would attract too much attention. In time they are also trying to summon help from the Lycian Alliance. "

"No, the Lycians won't help, they too are trying to pull the pieces together after the war." Rutger answered, "I'm sure the chief would have Kutolah escape but not all of us will leave."

Dieck grimly noted the meaning in the words, "Rutger, your sword still sharp?"

"As always." Rutger said then he frowned, "I don't think everyone will like this. It is...all too familiar." Sue had described to him in frightening detail how she had to lead the Kutolah women and children away from the fighting.

The duo looked up as Chief Dayan along with Lord Pent and General Percival came out of the tent. Chief Dayan was old but still full of life, but now it looked as if he had aged a millennium in a few minutes. Rutger didn't meet his gaze, there was nothing he wanted to see in the Silver Wolf's eyes.

"What will we do chief?" a voice came up behind him. Rutger had been so submersed in his own thoughts that he didn't notice the small group that had formed up by the tent.

Chief Dayan heaved a heavy sigh, "We will leave, but we will not be driven out of the plains again." he declared firmly. "I do not believe that the other tribes will aide us unless they too are being targeted. I will plead with the Lycian Alliance for support."

The declaration was like a blow in the face to many in the group, "But chief!" a voice rang out from the throng. Chief Dayan shook his head, "No, I will get on my knees and beg if I have to. We cannot afford a repeat of what happened last time." With that he turned and walked back into his tent.

Rutger looked down, Chief Dayan was sensible but the realization of their position must have been a huge blow to the legendary Silver Wolf's pride. Rutger had never had to resort to pleading for help in his life time but what did he know? He hadn't been on this earth for two decades yet even he could understand the pain of hurt pride.

His yellow eyes found Clarine who was standing next to her parents, ironically nobles could understand this situation best.

Later that day as the sun was going down Rutger had been sitting against the target rock that he and Shin and practiced on meer months ago, but that time felt like an eternity away. He had been sharpening his sword but ended up falling asleep for a few minutes. He felt like slapping himself, a year ago his mind would not have allowed him to do such a thing.

He didn't rouse until someone shook him awake, "Rutger, wake up."

For a moment he was back in Bulgar on the night of Bern's invasion when his father woke him up. But standing above him was a woman named Huyana, whom he had previously found out was Ituha's mother. "Please come with me, Chief Dayan is holding a war council. He sent me to fetch you when no one could find you in camp." She spoke softly but the words still pounded in Rutger's head that still felt foggy.

Huyana led him to a large bonfire, it seemed like every member of the Kutolah-minus the smallest children-were there. Chief Dayan looked at at the arrival of the final warrior and began the council, Rutger also noted the Etruscans and Dieck sitting off to the edge. They looked uncomfortable among the nomads so in the Sacaen act of reassurance-no talk just act-he sat down next to Clarine.

Chief Dayan started talking in native Sacaen, after about five minutes Clarine lightly touched his shoulder. "What is he saying?" she whispered. Rutger raised an eyebrow to the fact that Clarine was actually speaking quietly but then answered, "He is outlining the plan of escape, the Kutolah will move northward, closer to Illia. The chief hopes that will buy enough time to find help in the Lycian League. " Clarine looked up at him with her round purple eyes, "All of you?". Rutger shook his head, he didn't understand what that was suppose to mean either. Instead he asked over her head to General Percival, "What will you do? Will you leave for Etruria."

"Yes, we must show our faces in Etruria if we have any chance of making this meeting undetected. But do not worry, we will seek out the Lycian leaders as quickly as possible." Percival assured.

"And if Lord Roy and the other Lycians refuse to aid us?" Rutger asked, there was no hiding the skepticism in his voice. General Percival didn't say anything more, maybe he didn't have an answer, Rutger certainly couldn't formulate any. He didn't have a problem with dying for Sacae but running wasn't going to help forever.

Rutger too fell silent while Chief Dayan continued explaining his plan of evacuation.

After the council was over and the crowd broke up Dieck held up a hand, "I will be back to aid you." was all he said before heading off into the night with the Etruscans. Rutger nodded then walked over to Chief Dayan.

"Ah Rutger, impeccable timing as aways. I would like you and Sue to accompany me to Lycia." Chief Dayan sounded surprisingly lively after the crushing news.

"Of course chief but wouldn't it make more sense if Shin went instead?" Rutger put in.

"Shin will be guiding the rest of the Kutolah northward. We need your sword skills Rutger." Dayan said firmly. Rutger offered no further objection, the prospect of traveling pleased him. It was hard integrating into a tribe that moved slowly with their prey when he use to move regularly everyday for more then a year.

* * *

Chief Dayan accompanied by his fellow Sacaens Rutger and Sue makes his way to Lycia by taking a narrow sweep through Bern. They are currently in the town of Khathelet.

* * *

"I don't remember this town." Sue notes sweeping her gaze over the tiny village they were passing through. "We never came to this town in the war, but I think this is where Fir said her family lived." Rutger said.

"_Say Rutger, where do you live?"_

"_...I don't have a home anymore."_

"_Oh...I-I'm sorry, I didn't mean to be-"_

"_...."_

"_My father and I, we live very close to here."_

"_But we're in Araphen."_

"_A little way south from here, there is a small town called Khathelet, it's a crossroad between Bern and Lycia."_

He had remembered that conversation very clearly, perhaps that is because he rarely talked to anyone or the fact that when Rutger first meets anyone who tries to press him into fighting for 'fun', he has a _very_ low tolerance for them.

"Fir? She is a Sacaen girl right?" Sue pondered

"Sacaen? Hardly, she might be Sacaen by blood but she's never been on the plains before." Rutger answered a tad harshly.

Sue didn't seem convinced, "Perhaps we should visit her? Maybe she knows something about what's going on in Etruria, although I hope she doesn't."

Rutger shrugged, "We've stopped here to rest but I suppose we could wander around for a while."

Khathelet was tiny but it's streets were winding and difficult to navigate seeing as how almost every house looked the same, it was a sharp contrast from Bulgar where every house had it's own personal touch. It took Rutger's sharp eye to spot a person with dark lilac hair walking around the corner of the street.

Sue sped up ahead but she didn't call out Fir's name and instead stood looking slightly confused. When Rutger caught up with her he saw why, it wasn't Fir. The two Sacaens found themselves looking at the Sword Saint. "Karel...."

The swordmaster turned around at the mention of his name, there was still much facility in his movements but Karel looked more worn then Rutger remembered, the man must've been in his late forties by now.

"Rutger, I never expected to see you so close to Bern." he greeted.

"Master Karel, we were hoping to find you or Fir. There is something going on in Sacae and we wanted to see the scope of the problem." Sue asked. "A Etruscan bishop is gathering an army to force Sacae under the Elimine Church."

Karel looked slightly surprised at the abrupt description, "I...see...why don't you come with me, I'm sure Fir would like to here this as well."

Karel was currently living wit his brother-in-law and niece, their house was a little way isolated from the main town. It looked like the rest of the houses except for the low main entry way, Rutger was surprised that Karel didn't have to duck to get into the house. He led the two Sacaens into a large open piece of grass that looked like a backyard.

The second Rutger stepped into the yard an axe came flying at him and became stuck in a tree passing mere inches away from his face. The thud of the axe was follow up by a girl's voice yelling "Father!". Rutger didn't have to look to figure out who it was. The whole army knew Bartre was Fir's father seeing as how he goes yelling for her in his trumpet of a voice. Rutger also didn't need to be reminded of the time when Lord Roy stationed him and Bartre to take out some wyvern riders in Bern.

After Fir got over the latest embarrassment her dear father had caused her she finally noticed Karel and the two Sacaens. "Oh! Hello Rutger and...Sue! That's your name right?"

Sue nodded to Fir and gave her an answering smile, "Yes, that's right. We've stopped by this town on our way to Lycia. There is a great conflict brewing between Etruria and Sacae, Grandfather is hoping to appeal to the Lycian Alliance for support. We were hoping to ask if you knew anything about this."

Sue started the long explanation starting with the four Etruscan riders that came to the Kutolah.

"That's quite a crisis to absorb all at once." Karel commented when Sue finished. "I've not heard anything about someone named Sirin gathering up support near here, but perhaps that is a good thing. Maybe this means the scope of the problem is still beatable. I'm sorry but I cannot offer any information at this time. But my sister and I are Sacaen, if it does come to a battle, you can guarantee our help." he looked to Bartre and Fir who readily agreed.

Sue nodded gratefully, "Thank you Master Karel, though we must be going now. Grandfather will not pleased if he cannot find us."

Rutger rose to leave but Fir piped up, "Before you leave, can you spar with me Rutger? Just once? You said you wouldn't fight for 'fun' during the war but...."

Rutger stiffened, _I guess it's alright...there's no reason..._

"Alright, I'll spar with you once, if your father allows you to spar with a man." Rutger answered clearly remembering one of Bartre's particularly loud conversations with his daughter when he at first disapproved of her sparring with Noah.

Fir flushed at the mention but nodded, "Father won't mind...."

Sue poked her head out of the back door, "Rutger, are you coming?"

"Five minutes." Rutger answered, he was confident he didn't lose so much edge in his sword that he would need more.

Rutger and Fir faced each other on the open back yard. Fir took a basic stance with her weight on her back leg and her sword clasped in both hands. Rutger kept his sword in one hand, "You start" he called.

He watched for any indication of attack, a tensing of muscles, a tightening of grip. It was a blink and then Fir rushed forward in attack, bearing her sword down with one hand. She had improved in her speed but it wasn't enough, Rutger stepped backwards quickly. The sword narrowly missed his leather gloves and glanced off his wrist guard. Then he retaliated with a back handed swing, he landed a stinging blow on Fir with the flat of his sword.

Fir shook off the shock and then lunged forward with a thrust. Rutger sidestepped but Fir turned her thrust into an upper cut, the sword coming dangerously close to Rutger's face. Clenching his teeth Rutger grabbed her shoulder and shoved her around, in a moment he had his sword aimed at her head. The duel was over, he had won, with only a minute to spare.

Fir let out a disappointed sigh, "I guess I still have to improve. I still cannot figure out what makes your skills so sharp." Rutger just frowned, "My blade is covered with blood, you don't want to be like me." he quoted one of the things he had said to her during the war.

Fir looked up with a determined look on her face, "Uncle is right, if Sacae is ever attacked we will do what we can to help. And I will keep training, I'll beat you the next time we meet!"

"Don't forget Fir, I'll be training too."

* * *

Note:Just to say my opinion on Rutger's 'relationship' with girls: RutgerXClarine, RutgerXFir (although I can see him as more of a training partner for Fir), you take your pick. It's possible if you take Rutger's personality and run it through a meat grinder. But the thing that always prevents me from getting into it are the ages. I estimate that Rutger is 17-19 and possibly 20 years old. Clarine and Fir are 13 maybe 14 is my estimation. That is a _big_ age difference and I personally have a hard time getting around that. I hope you understand if were expecting either of those pairings.


	5. Storm Clouds Gathering

"_Mommy, how much longer do we have to keep going?"_

"_Just a little longer Ituha, we'll be far away enough soon."_

"_It's getting cold mommy, I don't like it here!"_

"_It's because we're nearing Illia, it's a land of snow."

* * *

_

"_Shin, do you know if we can stop for a while? Some of the elders can't go much further."_

"_I'm sorry Knoton, but we can't stop here, there's no shelter from the cold."_

"_I hope this isn't a repeat of last time, if it is then there might be no Kutolah left after this is over."_

"_I don't take Lord Roy as a person who would abandon allies."_

"_Maybe you don't, but many of us who haven't have such...experiences cringe at the thought of our hope lying on Lycians."

* * *

_

"_Istaqua, look at the rocks."  
"They're covered with frost, so is the grass! We must be getting close to Illia."_

"_Yes, I've been there once, it's all snow and ice. There's no summer."_

"_You didn't like it there did you brother?"

* * *

_

"_Do you think the chief made it to Lycia?"_

"_Why are you doubting our chief? He is the legendary Silver Wolf!"_

"_I know but..he's only accompanied by two people, why if soldiers got him?"_

"_That won't happen, the Lycians owe us from the last war."_

"_Why if they're like the Etruscans? Why if they support the Etruscan's goal?"_

"_Stop worrying! You can't afford that in this situation! The chief will make it, and if he doesn't...we'll figure something out, don't worry a bit."_

_

* * *

_"Chief...should we fight them?"

Chief Dayan kept a firm grip on his bow but shook his head, "No, stand down but stay on guard in case they refuse to listen.

Sue and Rutger hastily lowered their weapons, the guards of Pherae tightened their grips on their lances despite their targets calming down.

"Hold it! Lances down men, these people mean no harm!"

Rutger quickly gripped his sword again at the sudden call but relaxed when a green haired knight came riding out of the ranks. "My name is Lance, I'm not sure we've met face to face but I am one of Lord Roy's retainers. I apologize for the bad welcome Chief Silver Wolf."

"Don't worry about it, but I'm afraid I have no time for greetings. I have come here with urgent business." Chief Dayan replied.

Rutger and Sue stayed outside of Castle Pherae's throne room, it didn't matter, they could hear snatches of the conversation that had echoed off of the tapestry covered walls.

"Lord Roy, I've come here to ask for Lycian support-"

"Etrurians have invaded Sacae, why would they-"

"Oh yes, Sirin is a powerful religions leader in-"

"Most of the Kutolah had to flee, we aren't powerful enough-"

"Yes, of course, after what had happened in the war against Bern we won't let Sacae fall."

After a half hour conference Lance emerged from the throne room, he held up a hand in what looked like a salute. "Lord Roy has decided to offer support to the Kutolah. However I hope you'll understand that mobilizing a sizable reinforcement group would take time. Lord Roy has suggested that you return to Sacae for the time being to aid your tribesmen."

Sue bowed quickly, "Thank you Sir Lance, please give our thanks to Lord Roy."

Lance looked slightly flustered at being thanked and he said something inaudible, for a moment Rutger almost felt like smiling. It's the same with all retainers who are blindly loyal, they are so focused on promoting their lord that they never realize they have superior skill.

"Grandfather, shall we return home?" Sue asked as soon as they were outside.

"Yes, we must get back with all haste. Shin must've gotten the tribe to safety by now." Chief Dayan murmured to himself.

"With all haste yes but we'll have to be careful, there's always been a population of bandits near Bulgar. I doubt the war has changed that." Rutger advised. As a child he had been caught in so many bandit attacks that there was no real need for preset sparring.

"Yes we must be careful, but it doesn't look like Father Sky intends to help us in our journey." Sue whispered looking up at the gray storm clouds.

* * *

"Dieck!" Klein called as he ran into the courtyard of the Reglay mansion. He found the brawny mercenary slashing away at some straw training dummies. "If it isn't little Lord Klein?" Dieck called back cheerfully giving the beat up dummies a break. "My lord father has received word that Lord Roy has agreed to give support to Sacae. That's the good news, the bad news is that General Percival has received word from the prince that Lord Sirin's army is currently in Sacae! The general said that the prince can't do anything about it seeing that Sirin is not leading his own army." Klein said breathlessly

Dieck's broad smile didn't fade from his face, he simply sheathed his sword. "Looks like it's our time to shine eh? Ready to go to Sacae?"

* * *

"**Fiiiiir! Fir! Where are you?!**" Bartre bellowed.

"I can hear you father! You don't have to yell!" Fir screamed back. Karel who was training with her just smiled. "Don't scream at your old pa Fir, I have good news! We can go fight in Sacae now!" Bartre yelled never once lowering his voice.

Fir's eyes widened, "How is the fact that Sacae is getting attacked a good thing?"

Karel shook his head, "It's not but we have given our word to help Sacae. Bartre, do you miss going on rampages?"

* * *

By two days Chief Dayan and his comrades have crossed the river that separated Sacae and Bern. They have reached Bulgar, this is the first time Rutger has seen his destroyed home in day light.

* * *

The rains have let up to a light sprinkle but Rutger was already drenched. This was the first time he had been able to actually see Bulgar, the last time he's been here it has been in the dead of night. Many houses in the western side had been burned down and only empty patches of ground marked the fact that they had ever been there. The rest of Bulgar looked practically untouched, everything was intact even wooden fences that had somehow resisted rotting.

It was difficult to find his parent's house in the weaving grassy roads. But eventually he picked out the house with the deformed cat carving. The nail that held it to the door was rusty and the cat itself seemed to have shrunk with the abuse from the elements. Rutger was so focused on the horrible carving that he didn't notice Sue had come up behind him. "Is that a cat?" she asked jolting Rutger out of his thoughts. "Yes...my brother carved this. It's a horrible carving but...." he didn't finish, Sacaens could understand each other without words.

"This is where you lived? Bulgar looks like a town but yet it doesn't...." Sue commented, it wasn't surprising, despite it's Bernian influence Bulgar looked very Sacaen down to the patterned molding on the house walls.

Just by closing his eyes he could remember Masou's light teasing when Rutger was still little enough to play with toys.

"_Say Rutger, why do you want to learn the sword? I mean I get that your useless at the bow but come on! A shrimp like you'll never have to fight."_

"_Shut your trap Masou! Is teasing me a hobby of yours or something or do you just not have enough creativity to entertain yourself?"_

"_Hahaha! And the little shrimp fights back."_

"_I swear on Mother Earth you'll eat your words one of these days."_

"_Ohhh! So your going to beat me in a spar? I'm sooo scared."_

"_Shut up! You really do enjoy teasing me don't you?"_

"_Wait wait! Don't start crying! Come on! I didn't mean it!"_

"_I'm not going to **cry**! You're a jerk Masou!"_

"_...Yeah, I guess that was uncalled for.....Hey Rutger?"_

"_Hm?"_

"_If you're going to learn the sword, I'll promise you one thing."_

"_What's that?"  
_

_"There is no way I'm going to let you die before I do!"_

Masou was so enthusiastic about his promise, despite being a sarcastic funny-guy on the outside, Masou couldn't watch his friends die.

And in the end, Rutger did beat Masou in a spar and Masou did die before him.

* * *

Note:This was short I know but I couldn't write anything else in this chapter. I'd really appreciate any ideas, I'm starting to run out of inspiration.


	6. Last Day In Exile

"Grandfather!" Sue called as she unleashed an arrow from her bow.

"Hold steady Sue." Dayan warned adjusting his grip on his blade. "Should we fight them, chief?" Rutger asked not daring to take his eyes off their assaulters.

"I don't think we can do anything about it. Are these Lord Sirin's soldiers?" Dayan contenplated.

"They must be, they don't wear any colors." Rutger answered. Now that he was free to do whatever necessary he focused on the small group of soldiers. One of them met his wolf glare, tightening his grip Rutger watched for a sign of attack.

But in a sudden change of mind he decided that there was no time to wait. He thrusted at the soldier but was parried by an axe. Flipping his sword into a back handed strike Rutger shoved the axe out of the way and put all his power into a horizontal slash, his effort was rewarded by a spray of blood and a scream of pain from the opponent.

Putting all his energies into his front would be fine, but if someone broke through his comrade's defense then he would be in major trouble. Rutger dodged a thrust from a lance and aimed a blow at the throat of the lancer, he did not need to check the results, his sword always hit it's mark. With his continual movement to avoid being impaled on some form of weapon, it took Rutger quite some time to realize how far away he had moved from Sue and the chief.

"Rutger!" Chief Dayan yelled. Cursing under his breath Rutger had already figured out that regrouping was near impossible and dangerous for himself and his comrades. He had enough to concentrate on without worrying about friendly fire.

A soldier came in on his unguarded right side and launched a javelin at him. Rutger barely managed to raise his sword in time, actually he didn't. The javelin lightly glanced off of the blade and cut just below Rutger's neck. The wound wasn't fatal on it's own but the stinging pain spread quickly to his arm, his _left _arm, his _sword_ arm.

The stinging pain slowed down his movement and his sword was shoved backwards by a halberd, but with an automatic reflex Rutger thrusted forward into the soldier's torso. His position was as precarious one, being on a hill he wasn't subjected to impossibly large waves of soldiers. However if some soldiers, any soldier, came up from behind him then he would be as good as dead.

Rutger smirked at his own foolish thought. _Heh, at this rate we'll die. If I'm starting to tire out then the rest of us would be too. Chief, Sue, I hope you get an opening to run. _He parried a sword and sent a vicious kick to the soldier's knee then stabbed downwards ending his opponent's life.

Rutger was starting to feel slightly light headed, the color of his shirt was drenched with blood from his wound. There was a brief pause in the onslaughters who were willing to run up a hill.

Rutger looked behind him at Chief Dayan and Sue, they seemed to be alright. They had to handle more of the soldiers seeing as how they were lower on the knoll but if he left his battle front to help them then it would just make matters that much worse.

Clenching the leather grip of his sword Rutger was preparing his fatigued body for another attack. Then his eyes caught a brawny figure starting to force it's way up the knoll. It was hard to distinguish specific features due to the dim light but from the way the figure was shoving soldiers away left and right....

As soon as the figure was in range Rutger swung his sword in a figure eight and ran at it. The shock of the collision resonated through his arms but Rutger took the opportunity of the shock to send a fierce blow at the figure's neck but was stopped by a thundering yell of, "Whoa! Whoa! Easy man! It's me, Dieck!"

Rutger barely managed to stop his blow in time but when he did he was thunderstruck for a second. "Dieck? Why are...on second thought answer me later, fight now."

Dieck just laughed, "I'm sure that Sacaen girl and Chief Dayan could tell you that there's nothing to fret about. Lord Pent said he would bring reinforcements and he did. I just decided to come back here and see if you're still functioning."

He gave Rutger a hefty slap on the back but pulled back when his gesture was followed by his hand getting stained red. "Do me a favor and don't hit me over the shoulder Dieck." Rutger muttered. He put a hand over the wound, he could feel torn flesh but the loss of blood had slowed down enough.

"What happened to the chief and Sue?" Rutger asked, his voice wavering from fatigue. "Don't worry, they're fine. I'm sure Little Lord Klein has everything under control." Dieck replied cheerfully.

"That's good, we need all the help we can get when we finally find the Kutolah." Rutger answered. Dieck blinked in confusion, "You say that like it's a daily trip to the market."

"I'm not worried."

"Ha! Yeah I remember, in the war you always said 'we just have to suffer through it'. How do you keep such a level head?" Dieck laughed.

"If you worry you die, if you don't worry you still die. So why worry?" Rutger remarked.

"Oh...very pessimistic...." Dieck noted.

Rutger started to feel increasingly awkward as he listened to the sounds of battle on the other side of the hill. It was too strange to hear the clanging of weapons while he and Dieck were just sitting here enjoying the view.

Then came the cry of, "They're retreating! Charge them!" and a loud battle cry went up from the Etruscan soldiers as they drove off their attackers.

"Yep, just like I said. Lord Klein has everything under control." Dieck thundered.

Rutger found himself staring at a frosty, boulder scattered replica of the Sacaen plains, if the Kutolah made it out alive then they shouldn't be too far off. He felt surprisingly better this morning, despite his extreme dislike for Clarine's nonstop chatter he had to admit that she was an exceptional healer.

"Uh...hey you!" a voice went up behind him.

Rutger's first instinct was to draw his sword and cut the man's head off, it was just a conditioned reaction. But luckily for the soldier the sword was out of reach at the moment. "What do you want?" he snapped at the soldier who recoiled sharply. "T-there's someone at the edge of camp, some Sacaen people and a tall guy with an axe."

"And you're telling _me _this why?" Rutger asked darkly, not waiting to hear an answer he went to see who the visitors were. Before coming within line of sight he could hear yells of:

"**We come all the way here to Sacae and then get stopped by soldiers?!**"

"Father please! Lower your voice."

"Greetings Master Karel." Rutger decided to say hello to Karel first since Fir and Bartre were...preoccupied.

"Hello Rutger, looks like we didn't come fast enough help in the battle. But it is good to see everyone unscathed." Karel answered.

_Well,almost unscathed...._

"On our way here we have heard some information. It's only word of mouth but the rumor doing the rounds is that soldiers are pursuing the Kutolah clan, there might have already been a battle." Karel said thoughtfully. "If that is true then the ending of this might be disastrous."

"If it comes to that then I will face reality, but until I see it with my own eyes, I will continue as if nothing of the sort had happened." Rutger monotoned. Karel nodded approving, "Strong words, see to it that you live up to them."

The progression to the very edge of Sacae was difficult, for some reason Lord Klein saw it fit to bring Etruscan horses with them.

"Shin said he was leading the Kutolah here, but it's all empty." Sue remarked in a worried tone looking about the landscape. "Sue...look at this." Rutger held up a broken bow that was leaning against a large boulder. "There's quite a few of these lying about, I don't suppose they got tired of carrying them around?" he said his voice filled with harsh sarcasm.

Rutger showed Dayan the scattered bows and broken arrows hidden by the frosty plain grass. No one asked anything since the answer was obvious. They would keep going until they find the Kutolah or until hell freezes.

The rest of the day was one big fruitless search and no one really slept that night, it was too cold.

The morning was pristine, the skies clear, nice enough to almost erase the problem on their hands.

Rutger had decided to go ahead of the others, his temper hadn't improved by being forced to tolerate Etruscan soldiers. The others must've lost sight of him by now, he realized that if you just kept moving you'd never miss your footing on the frosty hills.

He stopped by a tall pillar of s tone to catch his breath, this didn't make any sense. They were almost in Illia, unless the Kutolah decided to head in the opposite direction or disappeared in to thin air, they should've met up by now.

Suddenly an arrow flew across the plain and missed Rutger's head by a few inches. For a second he was back in Bulgar two years ago but Masou wasn't the one who shot the projectile.

Rutger's head immediately went for his sword but stopped when he spotted the dark brown of a Sacaen horse. "Hold!" he yelled in native Sacaen, the archer on the horse froze then slowly lowered his bow. It was a young hunter of the Kutolah.

"Do you have no sense of self-preservation? If you had shot me then help would've taken longer to come." Rutger snapped. The hunter smiled sheepishly, "My apologies but we are all on edge, we were ambushed."

"By soldiers?"

"No, by bandits, with out the continued patrolling they have taken the plains as their own."

Rutger sighed, things were worse off then he had guessed. How could everything turn upside down in just a few months? "Come with me." he finally said, "The chief would no doubt want to hear the news."

And the news brought by the hunter was quite grim. Without then threat of the nomads, brigands now prowl Sacae without fear. The Kutolah were ambushed while in a weakened state and many were injured and killed. As was with tradition they had buried the dead before moving forward. Luckily or unluckily the dead were composed mostly of warriors.

"Many are dead but we are still together." the hunter concluded. Chief Dayan looked distraught but the expression only lasted for a moment. "Yes, but I must access the tribe for myself. We must also prepare for battle, we had a run in with soldiers ourselves. They are close."

Now that they had a guide the going was much faster. Rutger fell instep with Dieck, "What kind of power does this Sirin person have? How many soldiers can one lord have under his control?" he asked.

"Hah! You wouldn't know, where do you think we got all these reinforcements from? We got these from Lord _Pent's _peerage. But then again Lord Sirin is a religious leader, no doubt he has followers. Also, no offense but a lot of people, even Lycians, who don't like Sacaens." Dieck replied seriously.

"Well, then why are you still here?" Rutger asked.

"Huh?! What do you mean? You don't want my help?" Dieck exclaimed startled.

"You're a smart man, why would you ally yourself to a hopeless cause?" Rutger pointed out with his usual bluntness.

"Then why are you here? And don't me it's because you have an obligation." Dieck countered his shadowing humor back in place.

"I wondered myself, if this go badly would I abandon this cause." Rutger murmured to himself.

"Hey! I was kidding, deserting is seriously going to lower your reputation, among swordsman and friends alike." Dieck said hurriedly.

"I know, but think hard Dieck, how many times have I abandoned a cause?"

"Well lets see, you abandoned Lord Eric's forces when you joined the Lycian Army."

"Tch, and I did that just to get my revenge on Bern. I wouldn't call myself a sincere person on the battle field."

"I thought Sacaens never lied."

"They don't."

"You're making yourself out as a hypocrite? Because if you are then I will have to forcibly pound some self respect into you."

"All I'm saying is that I wouldn't trust myself not to be an opportunist. But I will fight for Sacae if it costs me my life."

"Phew, thanks for saying that. I was about to have a nervous breakdown." Dieck laughed, "I didn't make you out for a man who would doubt his own sincerity like that."

Now that he had spoken more about himself then intended Rutger said nothing more before the group arrived at a shallow valley. The Kutolah had chosen wisely in a place for a camp, it was relatively protected from the wind but it was one big target for an attack, nothing could be done about that. From his stand point Rutger could spot Sacaens going about their work as if nothing had happened, he could admire their will to survive.

As they descended into the valley a few people came to meet them. "Oi! So you guys made it back in one piece!" Hakan called as he climbed a little way up.

"Told you so! Told you not to doubt the chief!" Nita yelled at her brother.

"We made it back alive, now we just have to keep it that way." Rutger answered calming their joyfulness. Many faces glanced at each other curiously, they didn't understand the scope either. Stay away for a while and the Etruscans will lose interest, that was the common notion.

"The largest attack is to come. We must prepare for it." Dayan announced, his voice grim. He turned to Klein, "Do you have any intell on when the attack will come?"

Klein nodded, "Roughly a week, possibly less." Many people flinched at this, that didn't leave much time. They would have to move the battle front, it could not be here, Sacaen horses would be more of a burden then help in this landscape.

Rutger turned towards Chief Dayan for the final verdict. He didn't care where they fought, as a foot soldier he would have no problem in any terrain.

* * *

That night they held a war council, Klein spread out a map of Elibe on the table. "We are currentely here," he pointed to the border of Sacae and Illia, "The rocky terrain begins to thin out about two miles to the west. Lord Sirin's soldiers should've proceeded up to around here." he pointed to about half way across Sacae.

"I see, so we don't have very far to advance. All ideas are welcome." he motioned to his audience.

"An attack in oblique order." Rutger said breaking the silence. All eyes were turned on him, "If we hold some mounted units in reserve behind the right side, then we can create a reversed front and flank them. But there would have to be a heavy fog of war." There were murmurs of approval for those who understood his terms. However Rutger himself was tense, fog of war meant night time. Mass turmoil in the dark of night, he was all too familiar with that.

"Sounds good, we just have to make a few adjustments due to terrain." Dayan voiced his approval.

Rutger looked away, he could sense it.

This was the first of many battles.... They were no longer running, no longer exiled.

It was their time to fight back.


	7. Staunch Defiance

_We've been traveling so long, our journey was made all the more harder by the reluctance of our tribe mates to leave their beloved plains. I would've held with them but the chief was right, this was our only chance if we wanted to survive._

_The way to Illia was treacherous, the grass was littered with with rocks making it harder for our horses. The grass itself was covered with frost making traveling on foot just as dangerous and hard._

_"Shin, we can't go much further we have to stop, the elders and children are too tired to travel." a warrior pleaded, it was out of desperate logic but there was a hard edge to his voice. It was more of a command then a request._

_I had no choice but to give in, we must keep moving but we will not let the weak fall behind. It was our luck to find a shallow ravine that offered some shelter, if we were attacked then we would be finished, but it was better then being out in the cold._

_The tribe grimly set up camp, here and there they went so wearily among their work that some would exchange an occasional wry smile._

_As soon as everyone was settled I climbed out of the ravine and took a good look at our surroundings. Seeing the landscape peppered with rocks and frost made me want for the warm sunny plains more and more._

_Embarrassed by my own childish thoughts I self consciously fiddled with my bandanna that I had removed from my head and now wore as a scarf. I knew that in this cold this was a more resourceful way to wear it but a good amount of people would not stray from tradition._

_This was the way of Sacaens, perhaps it was honorable to stick to one's normal way of life but honor could often cost you your life._

_This was a reason I admired the swordsmen during the war against Bern. They were bound by no rules except the sword, they could change as much as they needed to fit into the situation. But without our morale guidelines we would be no different from the bandits and brigands._

_Even our enemy Etruria had their limits, what they called honor spared us some pain. I had often wondered how people like Rutger and Dieck kept their sanity in their sword dictated worlds._

_Thinking of the cold, ruthless swordsman I automatically wondered how he, Sue, and the Chief were doing. Were they still alive? If they were then had they made it to Lycia? Had they gained Lycian support? These questions were popular conversation among the tribe. There was a fair share of the ones who are confident and ones who fear the worst._

_I was so wrapped up in my own thoughts that I didn't notice Aquene had walked up to me until she spoke. "The wind is carrying a strange sound." she remarked deftly stringing her bow._

_"Really?" I closed my eyes and focused on the signs from Father Sky. Aquene had spoken truly, there was a strange sound on the wind. It sounded almost like footsteps, if the wind carried it to us then they must be close._

_Minutes later I was on my horse and charging across the field, I pulled Etu into a staggering stop at the first human sounds I heard. When I had a clear view on the source of the sound I nearly burst out laughing._

_Here I was ready to jump out of my skin over a few bandits. Just four or five of them, nothing special and nothing unexpected. I did not need to say anything, Aquene understood what needed to be done._

_We were on horse back, even on this ground we had the advantage. I aimed my bow at the head of the tallest bandit. I was so blurred by worry and and my nerves so frayed that I was startled by the sudden release of the bow string._

_It was to my luck that relentless practice allowed me to hit the intended target even in this mind set. The bandits were now alerted and started charging towards us. Aquene and I started furiously unleashing a storm of arrows but like I said, we were not at our best, most of them missed, only one hit home._

_My tired arm fell back to my side without my will and it was thanks to Etu that the only thing sliced by the bandit's maniacal attack was my bow. I immediately let go of the splintered wood and pulled out a short sword._

_I came bearing down on the bandit and struck hard on the back of the neck. Slaying the bandits took a few minutes. All I can hope is that there are no more of them around._

* * *

The weak morning sun rays greeted me, it was still early but the fact that the sky was already bright signalled that I had overslept. The only piece of clothing I had taken off the night before was my bandanna so getting dressed was a simple affair.

The air was freezing cold outside, emphasized even more by the drabbness of our surroundings. So naturally I was startled by the flash of red against the frozen landscape.

Rutger was sitting alone at the edge of camp as always, mechanically shining his sword. He seemed so focused on the blade that he seemed completely detached from reality. Perhaps that was the secret to staying calm in the face of unbeatable odds.

I hesitated then took a step forward, I immediately regreted my decision seeing as there was nothing woth saying. Almost as if there was a disturbance in the wind Rutger looked up.

Yellow eyes glared into forest green ones, there was a short silence before Rutger broke the silence, "...Lycians take a long time to mobolize their army." he stated as if there was an aura of impatience around me.

"I...see." was all I could think up, I could vividly remember how long it took for Lycians to prepare-oiling armor, fixing weapons, fully waking up, ect.-creating long spaces of waiting between marches, it was enough to make the most stoic Sacaen bored.

My bad memory train was broken by Rutger expertly thrusting his sword back into it's scabbard with a neat flick of his wrist. Seeing that reminded me of a question I had wanted to ask for some time.

"Rutger, who exactly taught you swordplay?" there was rarely any Sacaen who seriously devoted his/her life to their sword.

"No one offically, but as you know there are many people from both sides of the border in Bulgar. As much as Bern disgusts me I will admit that there are many armsmasters from there." Rutger replied his expression carefully blank. It only made me wonder more how much it hurt to talk about his past.

I was once again at a lost for words but Rutger cut me off before I could say something stupid.

"We could be caught up in a two fronted war." Rutger remarked unsheathing his sword again. "Etruria will come through Sacae, you can bet on that but if they also come through Lycia then it's over for us. If they come through Lycia then the Lycian Alliance will retract their support for their own best interests. It's even worse if Etruria defeat Lycia, which they can. Also if Queen Bern is either foolish or weak enough, then Bern isn't even worthy as a road block. If they break through the Lycian Alliance then we would be flanked on both sides. Then that would be that for the Kutolah. And if you want to get down to a personal level, Dieck, General Percival, the Reglay Family, they won't enjoy what's coming to them." he retorted coldly all the while tracing the intricate markings that laced the spine of the sword.

During the long explination I sat down in the grass and tried to picture the result of the situation Rutger described. It must've been the something like the Sacae Chief Dayan described several years before I was born.

Any response I had was cut off by the thundering of hooves. In the ravine sound bounced off the walls in such a way that an attentive person could hear what was going on all through out camp. "Scouts! Etruscan riders!"

Only fierce self control kept my jaw from falling, Etruria was known for fast mobolization but that didn't quite take away the surprise. Normally scouts meant light infantry with bows and light weaponry, nothing light cavalry would have trouble with.

I rushed out of the ravine to get a better look, to my relief the invaders were still only specks on the horizon. "Doesn't look like scouts, looks more like a brigade." Rutger commented.

"Brigade?"

"I'd say about 3000 soldiers? Quite small by Etruscan terms but we're still at a disadvantage, they have better equipment and armor."

I adjusted my grip on my bow, "Nothing we can do about it." I hissed through my teeth. This was less a war then a slaughter, Sacae on it's own was no match for Etruria. Even with a small group of Etruscan soldiers and personal allies, we were at the disadvantage.

A rusty voice caught my attention, I spun around to see Chief Dayan. "Chief?" I asked, it was a silent message to leave. Run, run far, take the weak and don't face this battle. Even the Silver Wolf will fall eventually, and this was no time to lose your leader.

However as I expected, Chief Dayan either didn't get my message or didn't want to apply to it. He gave me a sympathetic smile and went to meet the on coming force, he had already given orders for evacuation.

In the plains there is no where to hide, no real strategy, perfect field if you are one to follow honor. No tricks, no deception, just a frontal assault, this should be a simple battle, and a blood bath.

Looking around I saw the people who have scrapped their safety to fight for us, they seemed to possess an incredible enthusiasm. Even Master Karel who was always calm had a strange excited aura around him. Fir looked nervous but she wasn't backing down, and Bartre...I think you know.

The Etruscan soldiers kept a fairly blank face, they would fight, not for Sacae but for their lords and that was good enough. Rutger was casually leaning on his sword as if this was something he saw every other day, which it probably was. I quickly stopped day dreaming lest some Etruscan archer took my head off.

And speaking of archers the moment we were in range the enemy sent a shower of projectiles at us and a hail of arrows greeted them back. I didn't stop to look for casualties, the Etruscans were sending out their war horses. I aimed carefully and shot an arrow at a charging cavalier, I had aimed for the opening in his armor and my arrow hit it's mark.

I snatched up another arrow and aimed at another target, for a moment I was back on the Eastern Isles in the War against Bern. Endless memories of repeated actions and screams of pain in response caused my arm to move with my will. Just keep firing, stop and I die, seems simple enough. Ignore feelings, ignore fatigue, just keep on fighting.

Perhaps it was Mother Earth's blessing...or maybe it was just adrenoline.

* * *

**Note: First big battle in the next chapter and the POV mode will be shut down**


	8. War Begins

"This is madness, this is all madness."

This was what Rutger constantly thought to himself as mayhem erupted on the northern plains of Sacae.

Throughout his combat experience against Etruscans he had noticed that they were very...'book based'. Every stance they took could be traced back to a specific page in the text book on the art of the lance or whatever weapon they were wielding. This made Rutger all the more self conscious about his own movements, his father had taught him basic stances and attacks as a little kid. It was easy to picture Father demonstrating the Ci Thrust then spinning in to the surprise attack of the Tiao Cut. Every stance had their own specific directions on where to position your feet and the direction of balance. Another less pleasant memory was exhausting drills and endless practice sessions until each attack was woven into his instinct.

This was not always pleasing seeing that as a little kid Rutger rarely had any energy left to play with Masou at the end of the day, obvious to say that as he got older that became less important. Thinking back he never felt bitter at his father despite Mom fiercely disapproving of her husband drilling her youngest son into the art of the sword until the poor kid had no feeling left in his arms. It was a necessity, in the midst of a battle everything has to be automatic, you have no time to think about how to do a draw cut.

Rutger swiftly turned effectively dodging a side sweep from an ax, he retaliated with a two handed downward cut, the soldier fell with a cry. He spared a quick glance around hoping that there was no one that he might crash into, then quickly turned back to the battle and attacked a near by cavalier. The horse reared in fright at the sharp blade but couldn't run away from the firm grip of it's rider, it wouldn't matter since Rutger's sword hit home in a fierce uppercut.

The Sacae horseman had made it their first priority to take out the Etruscan archers but it was still nerve wracking to see the occasional arrow hit a soldier only a foot away from you. Shoving the threat out of his mind Rutger focused back on the army of lancers, it was difficult dodging their powerful thrust attacks but someone of his caliber could keep an acceptable air of confidence. He swiftly parried a sword by setting his weight on to his left back leg and turn his waist to the right. Followed by spiraling down in a turn and pivoting to the right. As he turned, he pull his elbow back and turn his wrist so that the blade faces tip down with the leading edge upwards. It was a fierce defensive block and by throwing his opponent off balance Rutger quickly finished him off.

This was not like the invasion of Bulgar, he wasn't fighting for his life. Rutger is the kind of person that is really hard to motivate, on the battle field that could lead to early lethargy. Tightening his grip Rutger attacked another soldier, this one was quite skilled as the sword attack was swiftly blocked by a lance. Snatching the pause Rutger viciously kicked the soldier's knee, tearing tendons as he forced the joint back and the soldier collapsed on the ground.

Suddenly an arrow came streaking through the air, Rutger only heard a low whistling sound before feeling a sharp pain near his shoulder blade. He could stop the cry of pain in respond, a blood stained arrow them fell a few feet away. Some archer must've shot him and the arrow cut deeply into the back of his shoulder.

_Oh well, at least it wasn't my left shoulder._

Doing what he could to ignore the pain Rutger attacked again in a downward cut at a soldiers leg his whole upper body powering the strike, incapacitated the soldier offered little resistance to a finishing downward thrust. In order to catch his breath Rutger then took a defensive stance, a quick sidestep to avoid get sliced in half then a sharp explosive retaliation.

Given a slight pause Rutger looked on to Fir's duel, the soldier was much larger then her and she was taking an alarmingly long time to take him down. There was also a cavalier coming up from behind, rushing forward Rutger just managed to lock weapons with the cavalier before Fir was skewered.

He leaned to the left and turn his waist left as well. His sword handle came against the outside of his wrist like a brace. As Rutger turned to the side, he pulled his sword with him so that it aimed upwards.

The blade flat connected with the cavalier's lance, the weapon slid onto the base of Rutger's sword. This gave him a stronger leverage and he threw back the shaft and went for the horse, animals you see, will not impale themselves on a shiny sharp object for anyone. The horse threw it's rider and ran off as if wyverns were chasing it. Rutger plunged his sword into the knight smashing vertebrae and tearing flesh, he was already turning around to face another opponent before the sword was completely free of the body.

This was mayhem, two hits for one opponent and if you didn't kill him then you were probably the one to die. Rutger found that a weird feeling was rising in his chest, he was almost starting to enjoy himself. Not that he enjoyed killing others, he wasn't a maniacal sadist like the Sword Demon. It's just that even a modest person like Master Karel must've felt a dark satisfaction at his skill triumphing over other's. Everyone likes the taste of power, even if they deny it. And power was what you felt when you could expertly block attacks and strike back without being hit yourself.

As this feeling of content fell over him Rutger risked a back handed sweep that left him exposed as his sword swung outwards. Realizing his mistake he gritted his teeth and brought himself back to reality, turning the sweep into a thrust attack that finished off the person in front of him.

The battle has been going for so long, and like that night in Bulgar Rutger was starting to become exhausted. His hands were trembling involuntarily and he didn't seem to be able to breathe normally. He clasped his other hand over the sword to keep it from falling out of his hands.

An enemy swordsman came charging at him, Rutger instinctively raised up his sword to defend. His block was lighter then he had intended, he didn't have the energy for any more sledgehammer blows. Never the less in a swift movement the tip of his sword sliced into the man's torso and turned the swordsman into a carcass.

As Rutger raised his head he saw an enemy coming up from his right, for a second he toyed with the idea of just letting himself get run through. His instinctive for survival won over and he prepared to parry but a much larger sword was cutting through the air and crumbled the enemy to the ground. "Hey Rutger...you...tired?" Dieck panted hefting his sword up.

"Yeah...not...much fight left." Rutger managed to choke out. "Is that right? Well you better...shape up there...there is no way you are going to die on me!" Dieck thundered cheerfully.

"I don't plan on it!" Rutger yelled back summoning up what reserves of strength his body could offer and strike as hard a blow as he could manage on to the helmet of a knight. The helmet split and the sword went slicing clean through the head.

The early adrenaline rush was gone leaving Rutger with the full pain of his injuries, holding back the deep fatigue and the stinging pain he delivered two powerful alternating slashes at his opponent. He couldn't keep this up forever, and the enemy seemed to come in endless waves. His vision started to blur, his arms were starting to become harder to control. It was a sad fact that whatever skill he possessed, Rutger just didn't have the physical capacity to hold out for this long.

Suddenly his legs buckled and only his sword kept him from falling on his face, "Get up! Get up man!" Dieck roared. Rutger pushed himself up despite everything, he brushed his damp hair out of his eyes and tried to steady out the light headed feeling. The landscape looked unusually bright and was a swarm of fighters, he caught a glimpse of Master Karel cutting down soldiers, despite his age the legendary swordsman wasn't giving out. Lord Pent was deftly sending out blasts of Elfire left and right scorching the land.

In this small moment of weakness a soldier snuck up from the left side out of site, either this soldier was experienced or just ridiculously strong. But regardless he swung his weapon at Rutger with such force that he knocked him off his feet.

Rutger hit the ground with his injured shoulder, he heard a strained shout of pain, it took a moment to realise it was his own.

Dazed and unable to move for a second Rutger struggled against his body's protesting to stand up. He just managed to scramble to his knees to dodge a downward killing thrust. Dieck whirled around and severed the soldier's spinal cord with a crushing blow, he grabbed Rutger by the arm and hauled him to his feet. "Stay with me man!" he encouraged over the noise of the battle. "After this is all over I'll have to give you some endurance training!" he yelled sunnily, "You've got all the skill but little of the stamina, but then again I don't suppose it was your goal to fight in this mess eh?"

Rutger didn't have the breath to respond, he just blocked against a blow to his head, he flipped the edge of his sword and sliced at the soldier's throat. After the choking sensation subsided he managed to talk in a low voice, "You're not tired?" he asked Dieck.

"Tired? Phew...I'm exhausted." the mercenary answered wiping sweat from his forhead.

"I thought...it was a brigade," Rutger's voice was tense and low, "This should be...over by now"

"It's starting to thin out," Dieck remarked, "Rutger, don't look around." he warned. Rutger didn't answer, he didn't need to be reminded of that. His cold cage of focus had never been broken, just his body.

He was starting to adjust to the fierce exhaustion from the relentless fighting. Dieck was right, it was starting to thin out. He decided to go on the offense again and slashed at a soldier's neck then immediately turning to his neighbor.

The battle was over as abruptly as it had begun, whatever Etruscan soldiers remained retreated and no one chased after them. With the threat gone Rutger shakily slid his sword back into it's scabbard, his head was throbbing and he hurt all over.

Now that there was temporary peace Rutger managed to get a good look around. The ground was strewn with bodies, Sacaen, Etruscan alike. Among the living there were many who were badly injured, now he realized that he was one of the less mangled. A tug on his sleeve jerked him back into alertness, he turned to see Clarine standing next to him. "Do you want me to treat that wound?" she asked nodded towards the cut on his shoulder. It hurt horribly and he felt sick but Rutger shook his head, "No, not now at least." he looked around again. "What happened to Chief Dayan?" he asked.

Clarine shook her head, "I...I don't know, I down know." she whispered.

There was a long pause, Rutger looked down into the ravine. There was a small group of people gathering in the center, their hushed murmurs carried by the wind. For a second Rutger's mind had trouble processing the meaning of their actions, he had stopped understanding such gestures. Now that the field was safe a few came out of the ravine to have a look at the battle field. Some children also wanted to see but were kept away from the carcass strewned land.

_Just shut your mouth and walk away boy, what are you even doing here?! You don't understand anything anymore! It's best if you just disappeared and spared yourself the tortures of society._

This demand echoed loudly from the back of his head, it would be a lie to say that it wasn't tempting to follow. Unless your name happen to be General Murdock or Master Karel your one person won't really make much of a difference. But he couldn't just leave and not have it weighing on him for the rest of his life-however low he might live-. Along with a severe deficiency in trying new things, Rutger also had a streak of having the potential to being the most stubborn man alive.

"Yo, you have that look on your face again." a voice came up beside him.

"What?" Rutger asked Dieck who was leaning on his sword like someone would lean against a table. "It's not native to you only, I've seen that look before on some of my employers when they wanted to betray someone."

Hearing the suggestion Rutger's hand automatically jerked his sword out of its scabbard. His first instinct was to slice Dieck in half and he attempted so without his will or any thought. Despite his outrage, the blow was only half-hearted and did not hold the usual lightning speed a swordmaster should possess. Dieck blocked it with the flat of his own sword and for a moment they stared at each other grimly. Rutger's copper eyes blazed with fury but Dieck's face was unreadable.

"I don't understand anything about...normal people anymore. I won't lie to you, I have often thought that it would be easier on me and the people around me if I just continued in solitude." Rutger finally said after the tension filled pause. "I see...I suppose I would feel the same if I had gone so long on my own. But you understand me when I say that I cannot let someone who would so readily betray live." Dieck answered.

"I might be morbid but I am not two faced, I won't leave. I am locked in this until it's endplay, if I wasn't content with that then I would've left a long time ago. I will not betray Sacae or the Kutolah, if you will not trust my word then I can prove that to you through action." Rutger's voice was firm.

Dieck grinned, "That's better, you know something Rutger? I don't think you realize this but you're still just a kid. I bet you could kill someone in cold blood but I doubt you have the steel in you to do something so appalling as betraying your home land."

"Maybe not, but will Sacae survive through all this?" Rutger looked up at the sky, it was almost sun down. The sky was painted with red and gold, just like his last day in Bulgar, night was coming and a foreign cold wind blew down from Illia.

* * *

**Note: All of my battle scenes are based of techniques with the Chinese sword just in case any one thought the sword strikes were a bit strange.**


	9. Sympathy

_"Ha! Look at those people! It looks like their standing there as if someone wants to look at them."_

_Two boys walked along the streets of Bern, one about six or seven the other seven years older. The older boy walked about with a smile plastered on his face gently mocking the various nobles portraying themselves along the white paved roads. While he strolled around he kept a firm grasp on his little brother's hand._

_The younger one blended in with the customary brown or blond hair and light eyes of the locals while the older one stood out with his dark green hair and tanned skin._

_The pair passed one of the various public gardens and pass a noble lady walking gracefully across the carefully cropped grass like a duck through water. The little boy tilted his head in a confused fashion, "Masou, why do they wear those clothes? It looks like it'll tear in a second."_

_"Oh it's their way of saying 'I'm richer then you, just look at my completely unversatile clothing!' understand?" Masou answered back in pompous Sacaen._

_The little brother laughed then continued staring at the various products on display at the farmer's market. He could understand some of the words that the farmers and merchants barked out at the passerbyers._

_That didn't help to clear up the kid's confusion as every farmer was claiming that their product was the best in the land and 'can cure any disease'._

_"Where did Father go?"_

_"In that old crummy book seller, you know how much Father likes those old military books. I'm just surprised that he let us come along this time."_

_The little boy and Masou wandered into the town square where common folk hang out to fetch water from the public fountain, talk, plot behind their lord's back, pretty much anything. The little boy was marveling at the elaborate mosaic tiling that formed colorful rings in the center of the 'square'._

_Suddenly he felt his hand wrenched violently from Masou's._

_"Rutger!"_

_His head snapped up and saw Masou with his arms pinned behind him by a large burly man. "What do you think you're doing you Sacaen mongrel?" shrieked a woman's voice among the small throng that had gathered around them._

_Rutger looked up at the woman that was standing behind him startled and confused, it took a few moments for a sense of fear to cover him. Masou wrenched himself free from his oppressor ruefully glaring at the man._

_"Come on Rutger, let's get out of here." he mumbled._

_"Okay" This wasn't good, it took a elephant falling on him to make Masou scowl and so far Rutger hasn't seen any pachyderms._

_But the locals clearly weren't done as the woman roughly pulled Rutger back as he tried to walk towards Masou. "Listen child, that's a half blooded wench from Bulgar, you don't want to go with him." she said in a sugar laced voice while her eyes contrasted harshly as she glared at Masou with the utmost hatred._

_"But-" he started but was cut off by Masou._

_"This kid is this half blood's brother!" he hissed as he snatched Rutger away from the woman and marched off, herding the little boy in front of him. Rutger didn't dare look back having that little kid sense that he would get slapped in the face if so._

_"Um...Masou?" he asked cautiously as he tugged on Masou's sleeve. Masou shook his head and passed his hand over his eyes, "Yeah, sorry about that kid, I'm over it now."_

_Before either of them could say anything else a tall Sacaen walked there way bearing three or four giant weathered textbooks under his arm. "Sons! Had a good time?" despite being even toned and quiet his voice traveled like thunder._

_Rutger looked down while Masou grumbled something inaudible then said, "Hmph...not coming here again that's for sure."_

_Masou then went on to narrate the whole event to Father who barely reacted. When he was finished Father finally spoke, "Masou, don't worry about it. Ignoring doesn't fix anything but some things you have exclude from your life. Don't worry about it, let them think what they want. You cannot change it so don't try to, no matter what happens they will never change."_

_Father then picked up his books and started walking off motioning for the two boys to follow him, "I know neither of you want to be despised, but that's just how this world runs. You only have to surpass the standards of your own and the ones you care about."_

_Masou shrugged unconvinced but followed Father with Rutger trotting next to him._

_xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx_

Rutger held a hand up to block the fierce light of the rising sun.

"Damn, why won't those dreams go away." he growled to himself.

Although deep down he already knew the answer to his own question. Refusing to take on his own wisdom he snatched up his sword and walked out of the ravine. Watching the sunrise and set was a tradition for Sacaens who are in need of inspiration or hope. It's a sign to Mother Earth to give you a helping hand. Another person was there too but he was looking away.

"Shin...."

"Rutger? How are you today?"

"Still feeling the aches and pains of the last battle, but nothing else."

"I...see...."

"What are you worried about?"

"The chief...he's too old to fight-"

"And yet he fought."

"Yes...he won't survive the next battle...obviously."

"Hm...and what are you thinking to do about it?"

Rutger crossed his arms, "You'd have better luck reasoning with a wall then a stubborn old person." he pointed out quoting Masou's description of arguing with Father. Shin didn't answer, he probably didn't have one. After all, what can you do about it? Betray your leader.....? No, there are few people worth following and Chief Dayan was one of them

Since Shin has nothing left to say Rutger turned and walked away. He kept walking without looking where he was going and only stopped when he hit a rock. If he walked any further he would've been on his way to a twelve foot dive. Looking down it was a small valley, one of those splits in the plains that you can only see if you were in a five foot radius.

There were burned spots in the grass down there along with a few scraps of metal and broken pieces of wood. There were even a few lances lying about and cooking utensils. This must've been the old Etruscan camp and they had left, retreated back a little.

But that wasn't what disappointed him, it was the dead bodies that lay around. The dead soldiers still wore their polished white armor. One of them still had a firm grip on his lance.

"What foolishness, you fight for your country and your lord, but why? What have they ever done for you? But then again only you can put a value on your life, and if you feel that it's worth something as superficial as honor, then feel free to throw it away. It's too bad that I feel such hatred against you, I can sympathize with you." Rutger mused with one of the younger looking corpses. His hand automatically the shoulder wound that he received in the last battle. "We're all as meaningless in life as we are in death, it's only the values you set that gives any point in living. What's your value? Dying in service of your country? I suppose it sounds noble, and if it gave you a feeling of fulfillment then I suppose it was worth it." He got up and smiled, the first real smile in two years. "Well thanks for listening, I guess I'll see you again someday after I end up like you do."


End file.
